Walking through the medieval streets of Siena or the baroque squares of Vienna, one encounters something profound yet often overlooked: These historically Catholic cities embody a sacramental understanding of space that modern urban planning desperately needs to rediscover. As our cities grow increasingly fragmented and isolating—due to suburban sprawl, automobile dependency and the decline of community gathering spaces—the traditional European Catholic city offers vital insights for creating urban environments that nurture human dignity and community.
The sacramental imagination—the Catholic belief that material reality can mediate divine grace—can be seen in the building of these cities. This worldview sees the physical environment not merely as functional space but as potentially sacred, capable of directing hearts and minds toward transcendent realities. When applied to urban planning, this perspective can help create cities that prioritize human encounter, beauty, and the common good over efficiency and profit.
Consider the piazza, which I consider a quintessentially Catholic urban form. Unlike the modern shopping mall or business district, the piazza exists primarily for human gathering and communal life, welcoming all regardless of economic purpose. Surrounded by churches, cafes and civic buildings, it is one way to create what the urban theorist Jane Jacobs called “eyes on the street”—natural surveillance that makes spaces safe while fostering spontaneous community interaction.
Unlike the more Protestant-influenced New England town common, which often features restrictive signage and controlled activities, the piazza embodies a Catholic understanding that humans are inherently social beings, created for communion. Some large urban spaces in the United States, like Boston’s City Hall Plaza—a brutalist concrete expanse that, despite criticism for lacking human scale, still draws crowds for events and protests—face constant pressure for orderly redesign that could diminish their spontaneous, communal character. But a human hunger for authentic public space persists.
The piazza stands in stark contrast to modern urban planning, dominated by what Pope Francis calls the “technocratic paradigm”—an approach that reduces city planning to traffic flow optimization and zoning efficiency. The result is what the architect James Howard Kunstler terms “the geography of nowhere”: sprawling suburbs, strip malls and autocentric downtown districts that empty after business hours, all environments hostile to human flourishing.
Many traditionally Catholic European cities, by contrast, integrate sacred and secular space in ways that acknowledge the wholeness of human life. Churches anchor neighborhoods not just spiritually but physically, their bells marking time and their steps serving as gathering places (though this function has diminished in many places). This integration reflects the incarnational principle that grace perfects nature rather than replacing it—that urban spaces should elevate natural human interactions rather than sort them into manageable categories.
Beyond the piazza, I can see a kind of Catholic urban sensibility in: mixed-use neighborhoods where residential, commercial and civic functions interweave naturally; walkable street patterns that prioritize pedestrians over vehicles; public squares and courtyards that serve as outdoor “rooms” for community life; and architectural elements like arcades, porticoes and covered walkways that provide shelter while maintaining connection to street life. Some cities also feature multiple small churches and shrines throughout the urban fabric, creating a network of sacred touchstones that sanctify ordinary neighborhoods.
Studies show that walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods correlate with better physical health, stronger social bonds and greater civic engagement. A Catholic approach to urban planning also emphasizes beauty as essential to human dignity. While modern planning often treats aesthetics as a luxury, Catholic thought recognizes beauty as a fundamental human need. As Pope Francis notes, beauty in our surroundings is “a way of loving” that acknowledges human dignity. The ornate facades of many Catholic churches and the careful proportions of monastery courtyards—design traditions that continue in some contexts, though often simplified in contemporary American church architecture—reflect the belief that humans, made in God’s image, deserve surroundings that inspire rather than depress.
Moreover, Catholic social teaching’s emphasis on subsidiarity offers a corrective to top-down urban planning that ignores local knowledge and needs. Just as the church teaches that decisions should be made at the most local level that is appropriate, effective urban planning must involve residents in shaping their neighborhoods. However, in contemporary American contexts, the parish model faces challenges: When applied to suburban development, resident preferences often favor more parking, privacy barriers and activity separation—patterns that work against the integrated urban ideal.
As urbanization accelerates globally, with 68 percent of humanity expected to live in cities by 2050, how we build our cities will largely determine human flourishing in the coming century. The epidemic of loneliness, the crisis of homelessness and the environmental challenges facing cities require solutions that go beyond technical fixes to address the deeper question of what cities are for.
Catholic institutions have an opportunity to lead by example. Catholic universities can integrate urban planning with theology and philosophy courses. Parishes can advocate for zoning changes that promote mixed-use development and affordable housing. Catholic developers can build projects that prioritize community spaces like plazas, courtyards and shared gardens over maximum profit.
The sacramental imagination offers a vision of cities as more than aggregations of buildings and infrastructure. It sees urban space as potentially sacred, capable of fostering encounter with both neighbor and God. In an age of increasing isolation and environmental crisis, this vision isn’t just spiritually enriching—it is critical for healthy human life.
As we face the challenge of creating livable cities for the future, we would do well to learn from the church’s wisdom about human space. The choice is not between progress and tradition but between urban environments that fragment human life and those that integrate it. Cities can focus not only on efficiently moving traffic, providing adequate parking and facilitating quick consumption, but can also help humans flourish through beautiful public spaces, walkable neighborhoods, integrated daily activities and built environments that inspire rather than diminish the human spirit. The sacramental imagination points the way toward the latter—cities worthy of beings made in the image of God.
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